


New Beginnings

by dismiss_your_fearsx



Category: Poldark - All Media Types
Genre: Book Spoilers, F/M, Family Fluff, s4 spoilers, some fluff to alleviate the angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 09:21:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15264351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dismiss_your_fearsx/pseuds/dismiss_your_fearsx
Summary: One should not cling to what has passed and forget to enjoy what is.





	New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested on Tumblr and I had a lot of fun writing it! I haven't read the later books so please excuse any error with dates!

It had been four years since Sarah passed, and though the wound had begun to heal, it had left an indisputable scar on them. One which neither of them was particularly keen to rupture.   
  
However, when they had returned from their long-overdue honeymoon in Edinburgh in September 1801, Caroline had apprehensively informed Dwight that she believed was with child. The strongest emotion they both felt was fear, initially, but they had ultimately both agreed it was time to set the past to one side - though not to forget Sarah, never that. But it was time to look to the future, and they must try to appreciate the blue in the sky, and not lament the lingering grey cloud that loomed over them threatening to spoil what they had, as it once almost did. One should not cling to what has passed and forget to enjoy what is.  
  
Sophie was born in spring with all the difficulty of Sarah; Caroline had an exceedingly long and agonising labour, and Dwight had privately despaired that she would likely not have the strength when the time came to deliver the child. But all had come well in the end, and Sophie was the very spitting image of her mother, to Dwight’s eternal delight.   
  
“I must bear you a son who is the very image of you in return,” Caroline had teased one morning as Dwight encouraged Sophie to move her little feet from the chair she held herself up on over to where Dwight was crouched with his arms outstretched. “How odious it is to be forced to look at a mini version of oneself every day!” Despite her claim, she loved Sophie very much - too much, she thought, knowing the dangers of such strong attachments. To Nanny’s endless frustration, no doubt, Caroline spent much time with the child - doting on her, singing to her, dressing her, even changing her. For all of her claims to Dwight that she was never meant to be a mother, Dwight did not know of a better or more caring one.   
  
They spent much time together and enjoyed their family time immensely, often extending invitations for all of the Poldarks to join them at Killewarren for luncheon or a picnic in the woods. On Sundays, they would walk the length of the beach in place of attending church. It was a quiet and peaceable life that the three Enyses and an ageing Horace enjoyed in their small corner of Cornwall.   
  
That is why, one bright, autumn morning, Dwight had uncharacteristically very near collapsed onto the bed when Caroline broke the news that she was once again with child, as she cradled five-month-old Sophie in arms.   
  
“So soon? Are you sure?” His eyes were wide and his lips slack. His eyes lingered over his wife’s form, desperately searching for any indication that she spoke the truth.   
  
Caroline shot him a look. “Quite sure, Dr Enys,” she insisted, a note of panic in her voice as she bounced a wailing Sophie up and down softly. “Oh, Dwight, how could this happen? How is it we could have no children for three years and then two in such quick succession?” It was all so overwhelming. She had barely gotten used to being a mother again, and soon she would have two children to care for!   
  
Dwight got up and wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter, his apprehension dissipating as his face broke into a grin. “How very blessed we are, my love.” He kissed Caroline’s forehead and took a disgruntled Sophie from her, who instantly calmed as she sensed her father’s soothing energy and calm demeanour.  
  
Caroline’s mouth twitched. “That’s easy for you to say, Dr Enys! I have yet to recover from the ordeal of bringing Madam mayhem here into the world.” She smiled fondly at her daughter, who, in Caroline’s mind, was worth every second of the unbearable agony.  
  
“I have yet to recover also!” He laughed, though a shiver travelled up his spine as he thought of how close she had been to The Valley of Death. He wondered if she was aware of that.   
  
Caroline took Sophie’s hand and waved it gently, looking up at her husband from beneath her long eyelashes. “Shall you cry again?” she teased her husband with a grin. He controlled a smile and rolled his eyes at her. “Papa does fuss terribly over us, my angel,” she murmured, smiling affectionately at them both.   
  
On a sunny day in February, their third child - another girl! - was born with blessed ease and swiftness. Dwight had very near danced a jig as he informed his two dearest friends - Ross and Demelza, who waited patiently in the small library with their own children - that there was another Enys girl. Caroline had privately been initially disappointed not to have borne a mini Dwight, though soft brown hair covered the crown of the youngest girl’s head and her eyes were kind and as blue as the Cornish sea, and so Caroline declared victory. She had named her Meliora. Dwight had named Sarah, and they agreed on Sophie before she was born if she were to be a girl, so now it was Caroline’s turn. She delighted in the surprised faces that people pulled as she announced her daughter’s unique name to anyone who would listen.   
  
“A person is only as good as their name,” Caroline had informed Dwight in response to his sceptical expression upon hearing his youngest child’s name in the hours following her birth, “and I mean for her to have a place in society. What better way than to have such an alluring name?”   
  
Dwight considered this for a moment, deciding to try the name on his tongue as he fidgeted with his newborn’s tiny feet. “Hello, Meliora,” he whispered. The babe seemed to register her name and opened her eyes to look at her father, intrigued by the sound of his deep voice. She would be beautiful, he thought. Dwight was convinced. “It’s a beautiful name, my love. Unusual,” he commented with a laugh, “but beautiful.”   
  
“I have unusual yet impeccable taste, as you well know,” Caroline retorted lightly, unable to tear her eyes from the new arrival.  
  
Dwight kissed his wife’s hairline. “Shall I fetch young miss Sophie to be introduced to her sister?”  
  
Caroline smiled widely, her heart so full in that moment she feared it would burst. “Oh, yes, please fetch her! Was she alright during all of this?” Caroline stroked Meliora’s cheek.   
  
“Yes, I believe so.” Dwight stood, making to leave, but lingered a moment at the end of the bed to stare proudly at his wife and child. As emotion welled up in him, he discreetly exited the room and wiped away a tear as he closed the door behind him.   
  
Dwight returned sometime later, Sophie’s small arms around his neck as he balanced the fourteen-month-old against his ribcage. Before Dwight had entered the room, he could hear Caroline singing softly to Meliora, though she ceased when he turned the doorknob and acted as though she had never sung to any of her children in her life. How sentimental.   
  
“Mama!” Sophie cooed, immediately attempting to wriggle out of her father’s grasp, her little arms outstretched ready to receive one of Mama’s special hugs.   
  
“Wait, wait,” Dwight admonished his eldest as he sat down beside his wife on the bed. “Careful, now, my little love. Be gentle. This is your new sister, Meliora.” Dwight and Caroline exchanged a somewhat nervous glance as the toddler padded a few steps across the bed and examined the child in the bundle of blankets.   
  
Sophie reached out a hand to touch the baby’s feet but paused and looked to her father, as though asking permission. Dwight and Caroline smiled slightly and nodded.   
  
“Hello, Meli,” Sophie shrieked as she sought to play with her sister. She babbled nonsense to her - her speech still developing - and gently played with the newborn’s tiny fingers. Caroline had to blink to back tears. Damned hormones.   
  
“Papa, doll!” Sophie ordered with a squeak as she clapped her hands together in excitement. She would finally have someone to play dolls with other than Nanny and Mama, who both weren’t very good.   
  
Dwight made a face, fearing an emotional meltdown. “I’m sorry, my sweet, but Meliora must sleep. You will have to wait a while until she can play dolls with you. Mama needs rest too; she is very tired, do you understand?” He stroked her wild blonde curls.   
  
She shook her head, and her small lip began to tremble. “Want stay,” Sophie whimpered, wanting to remain with her Mama after not being allowed to see her for an entire day. Nanny had been in a state of despair trying to calm the child as she wailed for both of her parents, while both of them were otherwise preoccupied bringing her sister safely into the world. The eldest Enys girl presently clung to Dwight’s torso, her little fingers gripping the soft fabric of his nightshirt.  
  
Dwight shot Caroline a quizzical look, and she nodded, carefully shifting so as not to wake the now sleeping newborn. “You want to stay? Mama and I need to sleep, Soso, we’re exhausted. That means you'll have to sleep also, is that alright?” Dwight kissed her forehead and rubbed her back.  
  
Caroline rolled her eyes slightly as she placed Meliora into the Moses basket next to the bed. “Will you ever cease with that ridiculous nickname, Dr Enys?” She pulled the coverlet over her and carefully shifted towards Dwight, resting her head on his shoulder. “Sophie,” she enunciated before continuing, “is a perfectly elegant name, as is Meliora. Our girls could be the crème de la crème of not only Cornwall society but of London society. They could marry a viscount, or perhaps even an earl, or a marquess or-“   
  
“- a penniless country doctor?” Dwight suggested with a smirk.   
  
Caroline propped herself up on her elbow and grinned. Sophie was already fast asleep beside her father, having fallen asleep soon after he began playing with her curls, and Caroline wagered there was not a child in all the world who slept so deeply and peaceably as Sophie Enys. Caroline leaned forward and kissed her husband. The kiss was surprisingly deep, considering how little energy they both had. “No,” Caroline murmured gently between kisses, a smile playing on her lips. “They must do as I say, not as I do.”   
  
Dwight grinned against her mouth and brought a hand up to cup her face as he kissed her again. “Bully for that.”


End file.
